Thursday, February 23, 2012

Dallas Opera - Tristan & Isolde

Lisa & Jon

The 3 kids

My girls











Tonight we  took in Dallas Opera's performance of Tristan & Isolde.  This is one of my favorite tales.  It is thought to be the inspiration to Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.  It's the classic tale of star crossed lovers.  Variations of this story differ, but it is always a tragedy!


The four hour plus opera is one of the most challenging operas to perform, because the leads in the play are 'on' for almost the entire four hours. There aren't many vocalist with those chops!  The vocals in tonight's performance were outstanding! 


This is THE opera I have waited to see since it was announced to be in the 2011-2012 line-up!  With that said, what could go wrong?   I walked away feeling cheated!  There was NO set!  REALLY!  It was a let down!  Being an artist, I truly appreciate the elaborate set designs and the creativity of artist who bring you into the story with the props and design, and there was NONE!  They used giant projections that shown from the top of the theater onto the background and stage.  The projections were usually gray scale to add to the tragedy of the story.  But it was almost a separate movie running in the background.  Many critics are  hailing this a technical, cutting edge, blah, blah, blah wonderfulness.  This live theater goer didn't agree. I was left feeling that if there are less than a dozen players in this opera, they could have  spent something on scenery.  Also, knowing that this is a tale of not only two fated lovers, but two countries at war, I was disappointed that this did not feel  grand.

The music to this opera takes a marathon symphony with an amazing conductor.   The symphony was phenomenal!  Down right crazy good!!!

Now, my second complaint,  the costumes were horrendous! Picture with me, Tristan and Isolde donned medieval wear, while King Marke wore a WWI German costume.  Tristan's army also looked WWIish, even carrying guns instead of the sword that Tristan carried.  In an interview it was stated the goal was that the opera should 'transend multiple time periods.'  But it came off looking like at $25-$200 a ticket they still couldn't afford sets, or costumes!


Little Momma

All in all , it was an enjoyable family night.  Any night at live theater is always fun, and we were joined by friends from church, which made it even more special.  I hope that this won't be the future in operas!  

Oh, on this post I am actually in front of the camera, and yes, Abigail is almost as tall as me.  Frankie and I are in flats, and Abigail is wearing boots with a heel.  My kids have started calling me 'Little Momma.'  


from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Psalms 22:10




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